St. Paul daily globe., 1887-08-15
Henry Barrett, the Fort Avenue Dealer,
Tells Of His Dealings With = ~
{ Smith.
BE Was Systematically Arrested Until
I His Eyes and Purse We're Opened
Together, 49,
When Peace and Protection Followed
Comments That We're Made at
the Time.

afOOt for the purpose of securing cam
paign matter to be used by the Republi-
cans before the next city election. The
words were always quoted to show that
In spite Of its high sound the term
meant but little. This little conspiracy,
then, has for its object to show thatsthe
present administration has cOrruptly
collected money from the liquor men,
but thus far has failed to show that a
cent was paid over that was not given
for campaign purposes. Hereafter an
effort will be made to have the public
believe that never before in the history
of the city, was money paid on the quiet
to officials. What effect it will have
may be judged from what follows:
One of the witnesses in the Kelly
hearing last Friday was Henry Barrett,
who has operated saloon at 1880 Fort
avenue, which is outside of the patrol
limits. He was called in to show that
Kelly had received money from him,
but the substance of his testimony was
that he paid SS5 to Kelly for campaign
purposes; that it was paid during the
campaign, and that Kelly never asked
or received money at any other time.
to James j. Smith, license inspector
under the Pillsbury administration,
which statement was not according to
programme. 1t has aroused Smith, who
says it is an audaciouS and mendaciOuS
falSehOOd, ass it would be expected he
would. Since that time Smith has been
doing noble work as prosecuting officer
of law and order society, and to have
such statement floating about uncOn-
tradicted would never do. So he denied
itin strong language and nov Barrett
comes back at him. Barrett was seen
yesterday and said:
Ibid L ever pay Smith any money?
Yes, several times. The first time was
along about Nov. 26, 1884. You see, l
had been running saloon for about a
year and a-half under the AmeS admin
istratiOn, and when Pillsbury came in
the patrol line shut me out. | kept
right along and never refused any man
who wanted drink. For the first six
months Smith made it very hot for me,
and had me arrested many times, for |
was an innocent kid and never dreamed
that an officer could be bribed. After |
once fixed Smith | was all right, and
was never disturbed, and complaints
against me were never minded"
How did you come to pay the first
money!"
''Smith, during the time he was ar
resting me, dropped hints about fixing
it up, but | never tumbled. About Nov.
took me to court. / told him / would
plead guilty and he said not to do that,
but to pay him $50 and the case would
be dismissed. By appointment l met
him at the pOstOffice and paid him $50,
which ended the case. watched the
papers and finally saw that after two
pOStpOnementS the case was dismissed,
though | never went back. Smith
promised | should not be interfered
with until May and was not. There
were complaints against me, any num-
Der of them, but nothing come of them,
as Smith said everything had to 90
through his hands and no warrants
were issued"
''Did you pay any more money!"
"YeS. About May l Smith came to
me again and said: There have been
lots of complaints against you from
citizens, so if you will pay me $500 more
will see that you are not interfered
with until May | told him [ would
pay it if he would give me any kind of
receipt or guarantee that would not be
arrested, but he said he wouldn't do
that, as he wasn't doing that kind of
business; that had taken his word in
the past and he had kept it, and
that it must go this time.
offered him some of the amount and
he wouldn't take it, saying he wanted
all or nothing. l couldn't pay it, and
on May IL | was arrested. He sent two
men down to spot me. One was a
musician of some kind, named Mallory,
and the other a man named Smith, who
looked something like jim. [ went up,
and Smith said if l would plead guilty
he would promise the fine would be
only S25. So l did so, and Judge
Bailey fined me S1OO. Smith
said this was all right and that if | could
pay him the 800 left, he would see that
| would be all right for year, but he
would give no receipt. l was mad at
the 500 fine and wouldn't pay, but
afterward paid him $50. Three weeks
later he come to me and said l must pay
him $40. He wouldn't take it in hand,
office. / think box 236 was the number,
and | must put no name on the
envelope. About Aug. 1 l sent
him $40 in that way and he let
me alone until in the fall. Snow
was on the ground when he drove down
the next time in cutter with white
horse and said he must have money.
How much?' said l. Whatever you
can give,' said he. He wouldn't take it
i'm hand, so l put it in the cutter, and
saw him take it up as he drove off.
About Jan. l he came again in the same
cutter, and l gave him $50. 1t was a
gold piece, and he made no objection to
taking it in hand"
"Was this all you paid?"
81 think that is all. About this time,
however, there was big row in my
place and man named Mcguire lost
watch and some money. The citizens
raised a row and there were many COM
plants, but no warrant was issued.
Smith came down and said: You have
told people you paid me money! No,
j didn't said L, but if you let any COM
plants come in l will There were no
complaints"
''Smith says you stated to an officer in
his company that you had paid him no
money"
Il did say so. That was agreed to be-
tween Smith and myself, and we carried
it out"
In this connection it may be stated
that the row at Barrett's place was in all
of the papers at the time. 1t also stirred
up the politicians, and caused much
comment in the fact that this place was
allowed to run openly. Auditor f. S.
Mcdonald alluded to it in an interview
in the Journal of March Is, 1886. He
was advocating George A. Comp for
mayor on the ground that the people
were sick of the show-reform admins
tration. He concluded as follows:
"The people in the Seventh, as learn
from good authority, are tired of sham
reform and have no desire to .'vindicate'
such an administration. A prominent
business man of that ward told me that
saloon of the worst character has been
running near the Milwaukee shops
every day in the week with no license,
and that men were robbed there often,
vet no interference few dayS -agOsa